How to hatch chickens with an incubator

This was my first time experimenting with an incubator, I wasn't expecting good results being that I had no idea what I was doing BUT it actually went well and I had 100% hatch rate.. with 9/9 eggs. First off I did my research and tried to get the incubator temp and humidity down to a science, different forums had different ideas. So here's what I did..

Day 1 - Add an X to one side, O on the other for when you turn the eggs. After putting the eggs in the incubator, set the temperature to 99.5. I did not add water.

If you are turning the eggs by hand, I suggest turning them 3 times a day, or more if you can.

Day 7 - By day 7 you should be able to candle your eggs and see if they are fertile and growing well. You can candle eggs with a flashlight, or buy an egg candler like the one I have here. Flash lights work fine but the egg candler shows way more detail inside of the egg.

Fertile eggs will look like the picture below, a small embryo with veins. If the egg is not fertile, you will either see a ring around the egg that looks like a blood ring, this means the chick inside stopped growing. If you see nothing at all, the egg was not fertile.

Keep the good eggs, throw out the bad. And if you're like me, you'll probably get hooked and candle your eggs everyday after.

Day 18 - This is when I added water. Make sure to add hot water. I kept the humidity between 65-75%. If your humidity is not high enough by adding water, also add some wet rags or sponges. I also added paper towels to the bottom for easy clean up after the eggs hatched.

Day 19 - The eggs started cracking or "pipping" and I could hear the chicks inside of the eggs chirping. The hatching process takes about 24 hours usually. 

Day 20 - Eggs started hatching. Some of the chicks may appear to have trouble getting out of the shell, it is best to not help them, they will eventually work their way out it just takes time.

Day 21 - All eggs should be hatched by day 21

Good luck!

This is the incubator that I used below, also links to the egg candler & turning tray